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Crafty Cat #1

The Amazing Crafty Cat

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Sometimes school can be scary and even embarrassing, but not today. Today is Birdie’s birthday, and everything will be perfect! Birdie's panda-riffic cupcakes are beautiful, and there’s one for everyone. She will be the star of the class. But then . . . disaster! A trip and fall on the way to school means no more cupcakes! Who can save the day? Who can make the class smile again? This is a job for Birdie’s alter ego . . . the Amazing Crafty Cat!After a quick transformation, Birdie is ready. She’s not afraid of sticky paws or paper cuts. She’s not afraid of anything, even Anya, the class bully. It’s time to get crafting!From Just Grace and Fashion Kitty author Charise Mericle Harper comes the first volume in a hilarious, charming, and sweet graphic novel trilogy for young readers about a little girl who can craft her way out of any situation. Each volume includes fun and simple instructions for do-it-yourself crafting activities. Get your paws ready for crafty time!

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2017

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Charise Mericle Harper

102 books167 followers

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5 stars
87 (19%)
4 stars
149 (32%)
3 stars
143 (31%)
2 stars
61 (13%)
1 star
16 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
Profile Image for First Second Books.
560 reviews601 followers
first-second-publications
April 11, 2017
This is the first volume in a hilarious, charming, and sweet new graphic novel trilogy about a little girl who can craft her way out of any situation. Each volume includes fun and simple instructions for do-it-yourself crafting activities. It's the perfect book for elementary school readers and a fun, adorable read!
Profile Image for La Coccinelle.
2,259 reviews3,570 followers
January 28, 2019
I might have liked this when I was six or seven... but I probably would've also been frustrated by the instructions for the crafts at the back of the book (meaning my mom would've hated it when she had to deal with my perfectionist tendencies).

The story is really quite stupid, and so juvenile that it's not even realistic. At times, I even wondered if the author was a child. The stuff with the grandfather (is he senile?) and the bully and her olive-induced farts are just ridiculous. I think those incidents were supposed to be funny, but they weren't. (Why would the grandfather bring cottage cheese and olives instead of cupcakes for Birdie's birthday celebration?)

I don't really get the whole thing with Crafty Cat, either. I mean, I understand that she's Birdie's alter ego, but crafting isn't really a superpower. It can't solve all your problems (as evidenced by the way she tries to fix her messy dress and ends up soaking wet).

The instructions for the crafts in the back are also bound to cause problems. Five out of six tell you to use a photocopier (because, yeah, every family has one of those just lying around). The instructions for the Panda Pal (which Birdie and her classmates make in the book) are extremely confusing. I couldn't figure out how to put it together based on the instructions given, and I probably spent a good five minutes puzzling over that before I finally got it. (I think the problem is that the instructions don't tell you to slip the paper under the slits. The instructions tell you to slip the tab "behind the first piece of paper--not both pieces", which is confusing since you're only working with one piece of paper. It should tell you to slip the tab between the slits.) If you're going to include instructions for a craft project in a kids' book, they need to be really clear so the crafting session doesn't end in tears.

This was pretty much a waste of time for me. The story was uninteresting, the characters were underdeveloped (or stereotypes), and the craft projects were boring and potentially frustrating. I wouldn't recommend this one at all.
Profile Image for Loz.
1,710 reviews22 followers
January 26, 2018
Cute fun. Interesting crafts, creative problem solving, adorable art style.
Profile Image for Michelle.
625 reviews88 followers
July 3, 2017
This comic didn't deliver on any of the promises the title makes:

1. This comic is not amazing.
2. There is very little crafting that actually takes place. What little crafting does happen is shoehorned in to the plot.
3. This isn't even about a cat!? It's about a girl who dresses like a cat when she wants to craft (umm??). The girl claims that her crafty feline persona is a secret identity (why???).

In all seriousness though, this was a mess imo. The stabs at humour were so were cringey (ie. the MC's grandpa bringing olives and cottage cheese as a birthday snack to give to her class instead of cupcakes) and the writing was haphazard to the point of distraction.

The art on the cover is cute so I thought it might be able to salvage this mess, but it didn't work for me either. I did kind of enjoy the monochromatic blue/turquoise palette (though it really annoyed me when a character exclaimed that a blue-gradient arc was a rainbow - um, no), but the line work wasn't to my taste. It looked like Harper was aiming for the art to look like something a child might draw - this simple style can be really appealing in children's comics (especially to the target audience) but I feel like Harper missed the mark.

I'm so disappointed because I love cats and kids comics. I was really hoping this would be a good readalike to Babymouse, but I'll have to look elsewhere.
Profile Image for Jeimy.
5,773 reviews32 followers
April 2, 2017
This story was not what I was expecting, but I loved it. crafty Kittens might also enjoy the crafts included at the end of this slim tome.
Profile Image for Eliott.
755 reviews
February 16, 2025
The Amazing Crafty Cat
Overall Rating: ⭐ .5 (1.5/5) or 3.28/10 overall

Characters - 3

Atmosphere - 3

Writing - 4

Plot - 3

Intrigue - 4

Logic - 4

Enjoyment - 2
Profile Image for Colette.
1,996 reviews
June 13, 2017
Craft Cat is a great beginning chapter book, plus it's a graphic novel for 2-4th graders. How-to's, friendships, disappointments, and overcoming challenges help Birdie conquer her fears, bullying, and a challenging day at school. She has a positive attitude and confidence in her abilities, so she uses these to make a very bad situation work to her benefit. And the bully Anya gets it in the end!

Great colors, the simple line drawings help tell the story as they should. This is a well done graphic novel for beginning readers. It might appeal to girls and crafty kids.
Profile Image for Audrey.
1,438 reviews56 followers
January 9, 2023
Reading this with my 10 year old was fun! Both Birdie and her crafty cat alter ego are funny. It shows how crafts can help you problem solve and it was very entertaining. We might even make the panda pal craft from the back of the book.
Profile Image for Lindsey.
1,132 reviews14 followers
August 16, 2017
I liked that she was resourceful and that it had crafts for kids to do in the back.
Profile Image for Andréa.
12.1k reviews114 followers
November 19, 2020
Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
Profile Image for Christina.
1,687 reviews
March 4, 2019
This book fell a bit short for me. The plot is about a girl who loves to craft and imagines she turns into crafty cat when she does, which gives her confidence. She makes panda cupcakes to bring to school for her birthday, but trips and drops the box walking to school. Things get worse from there. For some reason, her grandfather bring cottage cheese and olives instead of the replacement cupcakes he’s asked to bring, which seems a really forced conflict. But the character and the challenges she felt seemed relatable for the target audience.

The style of art is simple and mostly black and white with minimal use of muted color. Often the illustration is nearly identical in each panel for just a few words of dialogue, so it’s not compelling visually, though I could see kids being inspired to draw their own comics by the art. There’s also a plot discrepency where the mean girl takes the last cupcake in the art, yet somehow the heroine still has it later in the story.

The end of the book includes instructions to make several crafts mentioned in the book, which is a fun idea. However, almost all are panda-themed, and most involve using a photocopier and printing out on card stock (and enlarging one image slightly). Not only does this make the crafts require adult help (including a likely trip to an office, copy store, or library), to me it minimizes the creativity. At least, something not black and white that a kid could color in to make it their own would have made the project more interesting. The instructions for the last, and most intriguing, craft were really confusing, and seemed to be missing an illustration of the final and most important step.

This seems geared toward younger readers, probably elementary school, and I considered it as a book for my niece, but ultimately I felt it was too simplistic in story and art style to appeal to her.
Profile Image for Sharon Tyler.
2,815 reviews39 followers
March 16, 2017
Amazing Crafty Cat is the first book in the Crafty Cat series by Charise Mericle Harper. It is currently scheduled for release on April 11 2017. Sometimes school can be scary and even embarrassing, but not today. Today is Birdie’s birthday, and everything will be perfect! Birdie's panda-riffic cupcakes are beautiful, and there’s one for everyone. She will be the star of the class. A trip and fall on the way to school means no more cupcakes! Who can save the day? Who can make the class smile again? This is a job for Birdie’s alter ego, the Amazing Crafty Cat! After a quick transformation, Birdie is ready. She’s not afraid of sticky paws or paper cuts. She’s not afraid of anything, even Anya, the class bully. It’s time to get crafting!

Amazing Crafty Cat is fun and cute and offers readers a look at a character with loads of imagination and determination. I liked the story, and thought the illustrations were cute. I could relate to Birdie's getting lost in crafting, overdoing things, and wanting things to be perfect. As life often goes, rarely do things run the way we envision- which Birdie learns and copes with well. I really liked the craft ideas, and the included instructions. However, as a whole, I just was not blown away. The book will certainly be a hit with some readers, and I can think of several that would read repeatedly- it just did not strike that chord with me.

Amazing Crafty Cat is a fun and creative start to a new easy reader series. I think my favorite part was the instruction on how to do the crafts that Birdie/Crafty Cat does in the story. This would make for good reading and crafting with your favorite young reader.
Profile Image for Briana.
746 reviews16 followers
March 21, 2017
To be clear from the start: this book is not actually about a cat. Yeah, I was disappointed, too. Crafty Cat is the imaginary alter ego of our human protagonist Birdie. And while I have no idea why imagining herself as a cat of all things gives Birdie confidence or why she must envision herself as a cat whenever she does crafts to tries to creatively problem solve, I grant that it works for her. The story centers on Birdie/Crafty Cat's quest to save an in-school birthday celebration that keeps going horribly wrong.

I really liked that this book centers around a very normal and relatable activity for a lot of children: bringing cupcakes in to share with their class on their birthday. (Though Birdie's class seems to have a rule that you can do any birthday activity of your choice; you don't need to bring in snacks.) Things go wrong for Birdie throughout the course of the school day, and while I recognize some of these things as relatively "trivial" problems as a adult, I also know I would have been equally upset/mortified as Birdie is if some of these things had happened to me when I was younger. (Mom can't drop everything she's doing and bring something I forgot to school?! Crisis!) Chraise Mericle Harper really gets into Birdie's mind and envisions a book that will appeal to children.

Birdie is also a very realistic character. She's kind and creative and cares about her friends. But she also gets grumpy when things don't go her way and has reasonably flaws. The side characters are also nicely outlined, considering how little page time they get in the story. I would have only liked to see more of Anya the bully, or at least more resolution of her role in the story.

The artwork is pastel and somewhat sparsely drawn. Personally I tend to be a fan of more lavish artwork, things I can spend a long time looking at and still find more detail to appreciate. However, the art here is clean and easy to follow. There are also a few whimsical touches in the background.

It took me awhile to get into the story and I think the structure could be stronger, but the plot is very relatable and Birdie is a realistic protagonist. There are also some fun panda crafts in the back of the book, so readers can be more like Birdie.

Source: City Book Review
Profile Image for kelsey!.
435 reviews
December 29, 2018
Okay, so FIRST of all this isn’t about a cat at all, it’s a girl whose crafty alter ego is a cat but it’s all just pretend because she looks like a human to everyone else anyway. Talk about a total bummer.

It’s also confusing, boring, and sprinkled with pseudo-life lessons that seem at odds with the overall tone of the book. The text is simplistic which makes me think it’s written for younger kids, but at the same time I doubt it would hold their attention spans as it barely held mine.

The crafts themselves just seem... dull. On page 3, it says she has an eye for colors and shapes but I disagree with every pattern combo decision she makes in that pane, which I should’ve taken as a sign that I wouldn’t like the rest of the book but oh well.

I will say I didn’t mind the sense of humor in the book (well, most of it. The olives and cottage cheese mix-up felt super forced.) and I do like the art style, overall. Still, it was uninspiring and underwhelming.

Pass.
Profile Image for Jessica Young.
122 reviews12 followers
January 1, 2020
I really wanted to like this book. I love cats and I love crafts, so it seems like it would be a homerun for me. Well, turns out it’s just a girl dressed up like a cat. And the crafts in the book are so-so. They look cute, but would ultimately be frustrating for the 7-9 year old doing them. Also, the characters in the book are all kind of annoying. Crafty Cat’s parents let her carry 2 dozen birthday cupcakes to school by herself, she drops them (Duh! Of course she does! She’s just a little kid!) and they are ruined, she calls her mom to have her send the extra birthday cupcakes to school but the mom sent the extra cupcakes (decorated like pandas) to work with her dad. Really?!?! Did I mention that Crafty Cat had made all of the cupcakes herself? I felt very sorry for this girl. Anyway, that being said, I am probably over analyzing all of this. I could see elementary aged girls who liked Owl Diaries also enjoying this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Samantha.
4,985 reviews60 followers
May 5, 2017
It's Birdie's birthday and she's bringing cupcakes for her classmates to celebrate, but when she trips and drops the cupcakes on her way to school she stresses over how to turn the day around. At every turn it seems that her birthday is doomed, but she uses her secret crafting abilities to think creatively and problem solve. She ends up leading her classmates through a crafty activity which is a big hit.

I really liked the way that Birdie's hobby helped her to problem solve, it really celebrated how creativity can be used to consider multiple alternatives and helped Birdie to regulate her emotions.

Photoshop artwork was spot colored green, brown, and gray. Instructions for making many of the crafts found throughout the story are included in the back matter.

Highly recommended for grades 1-4, especially fans of Babymouse.
Profile Image for Stephanie Tournas.
2,815 reviews41 followers
June 19, 2017
Birdie's super power is crafts! In the throes of crafting she becomes Crafty Cat. On her way to school on her birthday, Birdie drops the cupcakes decorated with pandas she had hoped to share with her class. Luckily, Crafty Cat saves the day with panda crafts for everyone, including something different for her nemesis, Anya. Friends, bullies and school are themes which will resonate with kids. And of course, crafts are celebrated as satisfying creative outlet anyone can enjoy. Simple, spare digital illustrations in black and white with shades of green and brown give the story a distinctive and kid-friendly look. Includes instructions for several panda crafts.


Profile Image for Jess.
2,692 reviews33 followers
March 14, 2018
I don't think i'm alone when I say I wanted this to be about a cat who crafts. Instead, it's a girl who channels her alter ego crafting cat when trouble arrives. That's fine, but I mean, I wanted that cat.

Harper does a nice job of showing the world of a kid with a strong imagination and a decent amount of worries. I like the blue/green/tan/white color scheme. Anya exists only to be mean and while there are kids like that, I tired of her quickly. Unsure if the Birdies of the world would like her being included because they deal with those kids or if they're rather not have her here too.
Not for everyone, but should hit home with a section of kids.
Profile Image for Linda B.
317 reviews
June 20, 2018
No one can see Crafty cat as crafty cat, she is just Birdie. Today is her birthday and she has made panda-rific cupcakes for her class. Unfortunately, they are destroyed. No worries, she made extras! A call to mom and they are on the way with her grandfather delivering them. But, he brings the wrong items and Birdie is downhearted. However, she transfers to Crafty Cat and makes panda origami for the class. Lessons in how to handle accidents, rude people and make crafts are all covered in this cutely illustrated and well written book.
Profile Image for Beth Diiorio.
249 reviews8 followers
March 8, 2019
Grade-school main character Birdie has an alter ego named "Crafty Cat" who provides her with creativity and courage to negotiate her way through life. Crafty Cat is not afraid of paper cuts. Her weapons of choice?...patterned papers, swirling string, gloppy glue, twirling tape, shining scissors, and swirling sparkles! I loved how the author drew a comparison to having to stop crafting to go to school as feeling like a "backward metamorphosis...like a beautiful butterfly changing back into a caterpillar."
Profile Image for Chapters.
25 reviews
January 30, 2022
I just don't get this. Her persona is called Crafty CAT, but actually obsessed with pandas. All she talks about is pandas and all the crafts are pandas. The kind of person who would pick up this book probably wants some crafts that are CAT themed, don't you think? Besides that, the wacky scenarios she finds herself in are weird and kind of boring. Her crafty solutions are also weird and would not work in a real situation. Very strange book. It has a cute art style, but that really its only redeeming quality.
Profile Image for Niki Marion.
424 reviews6 followers
October 31, 2017
Cute-ish but I don't see this having a wide audience. Definitely good for younguns who like making things and baking things with their hands, and I like how Harper presents crafting as a way to solve problems and how she presents Crafty Cat as protagonist Birdie's alter-ego in times of distress and anxiety, but again, this is for a particular kind of kiddo.

Also nice that the back matter includes how-to guides on the crafts that are featured in the book.
Profile Image for Linda .
4,240 reviews53 followers
February 6, 2018
This is one that my granddaughter chose at the library, a quick read, but it was funny and she enjoyed it, is beginning to love graphic novels, starting with El Deafo. She has a friend in class who is partially deaf which is one reason she chose that book. This crafty cat is full of fun, some friend challenges and creative craftiness in order to save a birthday celebration. When I looked, I did find there are three others. They are similar to the Lunch Lady series.
Profile Image for Amy.
187 reviews
May 8, 2018
I've always appreciated the simplicity and off-the-wall humour of Charise Mericle Harper. Crafty Cat is no exception! Birdie, our plucky protagonist, turns to her alter ego Crafty Cat to solve the problem of the day with crafts. This one bridges the gap between beginner and juvenile graphic novels. Some words used (like annihilate) will certainly flummox younger readers, so I opted not to it in my beginner chapter book section.
Profile Image for Nicole.
293 reviews23 followers
October 18, 2018
Readers will think this crafty cat is in fact, a cat, but will soon be surprised to see that beneath those kitty ears is a young girl named Birdie. When Birdie dresses as Crafty Cat she gets into the crafting zone, which can help her problem solve (when a foodie disaster strikes) or delight her classmates (to salvage a birthday celebration). The back includes the projects made my Crafty Cat in this volume.
Profile Image for Carly Lozdoski.
261 reviews
September 2, 2022
My kids rated it a 5, I’m rating it a 3. Average 4

This book was very hard to follow. Cute concept, but it just didn’t quite come together for me. Crafty Cat an alter ego for a little gal named Birdie. Really loved Birdies vibe.

The plot was very jumpy. For sure hard to follow as an adult. Kids had to have pages read a couple times to get on board with what was happening. Especially in the beginning of the book.

Cute, but for sure average.
Profile Image for Earl.
4,122 reviews42 followers
August 27, 2017
I was surprised to like this more than I thought I would. It gave me a bit of Babymouse vibe. The way I'd been selling it to customers is that it's about a girl who's philosophy in life is that glitter can solve all her problems. I like that there are 6 crafts you can do. My biggest dislike was that not all the storylines seemed to have been resolved- or at least in a satisfactory manner.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Grieve.
Author 2 books6 followers
December 31, 2017
The title's a bit misleading for kids who expect to be reading about an actual cat ... when it is in fact the alter ego of a little girl. She deals with negative situations by donning her cat persona and ... crafting. Anyhow, nicely illustrated, and lovely for crafty kids, with some project ideas at the back.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance digital copy of this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews